Lecture 3

Theme: “Word-formation”
1. The concept of word-formation (word-building)
2. Major types of word-formation
2.1 Affixation
2.2 Composition
2.3 Conversion
2.4 Abbreviation

References:
1. Arnold I.V. The English Word. M., 1973
2. Ginsburg R.S., Khidekel S.S., Knyaseva G.Y., Sankin A.A. A Course in Modern
English Lexicology. M., 1966
3. Grinberg L.E., Kuznetz M.D., Kumacheva A.V., Melzer G.M. Exercises in Modern
English Lexicology. M., 1960
4. Гальперин И.Р. и др. Лексикология английского языка. М., 1956.
5. Смирницкий А.И. Лексикология английского языка. М., 1956.
6. Хидекель С.С. и др. Английская лексикология в выдержках и извлечениях. Л.,
1969.
7. Швейцер А.Д. Очерк современного английского языка США. М., 1963, гл. 1,4.
1. The concept of word-formation (word-building)
Word-formation is the process of forming words by combining root and affixal
morphemes according to certain patterns specific for the language (affixation, composition), or
without any outward means of word formation (conversion).
It is a branch of science of the language, which studies the patterns on which a language
forms new lexical items (new unities, new words)
Word-building is the process of producing new words from the resources of this particular
language. Word-building is one of the main ways of enriching and enlarging the vocabulary.
There are four main ways (major types) of word-building in modern English: affixation,
composition, conversion, abbreviation. There are also secondary ways (minor types) of word-
building: sound interchange, stress interchange, sound imitation, blends, back formation.

2. Major types of word-formation

2.1. AFFIXATION
Affixation is one of the most productive ways of word-building throughout the history of
English. It consists in adding an affix to the stem of a definite part of speech. Affixation is divided
into suffixation and prefixation.
Suffixation. Suffixation is the formation of words by means of adding a suffix to the stem.
The main function of suffixes in Modern English is to form one part of speech from
another, the secondary function is to change the lexical meaning of the same part of speech, e.g.
«educate» is a verb, «educatee» is a noun.
There are different classifications of suffixes :
1. Part-of-speech classification. Suffixes which can form different parts of speech are
given here :
a) noun-forming suffixes, such as : -er (criticizer), -dom (officialdom), -ism (ageism),
b) adjective-forming suffixes, such as : -able (breathable), less (symptomless), -ous
(prestigious),
c) verb-forming suffixes, such as -ize (computerize) , -ify (micrify),
d) adverb-forming suffixes , such as : -ly (singly), -ward (tableward),
e) numeral-forming suffixes, such as -teen (sixteen), -ty (seventy).
2. Semantic classification . Suffixes changing the lexical meaning of the stem can be
subdivided into groups, e.g. noun-forming suffixes can denote:
 a) the agent of the action, e.g. -er (experimenter), -ist (taxist), -ent (student),
b) nationality, e.g. -ian (Russian), -ese (Japanese), -ish (English),
c) collectivity, e.g. -dom (moviedom), -ry (peasantry, -ship (readership), -ati ( literati),
d) diminutiveness, e.g. -ie (horsie), -let (booklet), -ling (gooseling), -ette (kitchenette),
e) quality, e.g. -ness (copelessness), -ity (answerability).
3. Lexico-grammatical character of the stem. Suffixes which can be added to certain
groups of stems are subdivided into:
a) suffixes added to verbal stems, such as : -er (commuter), -ing (suffering), - able
(flyable), -ment (involvement), -ation (computerization),
b) suffixes added to noun stems, such as : -less (smogless), ful (roomful), -ism
(adventurism), -ster (pollster), -nik (filmnik), -ish (childish),
c) suffixes added to adjective stems, such as : -en (weaken), -ly (pinkly), -ish (longish), -
ness (clannishness).
4. Origin of suffixes. Here we can point out the following groups:
a) native (Germanic), such as -er,-ful, -less, -ly.
b) Romanic, such as : -tion, -ment, -able, -eer.
c) Greek, such as : -ist, -ism, -ize.
d) Russian, such as -nik.
5. Productivity. Here we can point out the following groups:
a) productive, such as : -er, -ize, --ly, -ness.
b) semi-productive, such as : -eer, -ette, -ward.
c) non-productive , such as : -ard (drunkard), -th (length).
Suffixes can be polysemantic, such as : -er can form nouns with the following meanings :
agent, doer of the action expressed by the stem (speaker), profession, occupation (teacher), a
device, a tool (transmitter).
There are also disputable cases whether we have a suffix or a root morpheme in the
structure of a word, in such cases we call such morphemes semi-suffixes, and words with such
suffixes can be classified either as derived words or as compound words, e.g. -burger
(cheeseburger), -aholic (workaholic) etc.
Prefixation. Prefixation is the formation of words by means of adding a prefix to the
stem. In English it is characteristic for forming verbs. Prefixes are more independent than
suffixes.
The main function of prefixes in English is to change the lexical meaning of the same part
of speech. But the recent research showed that about twenty-five prefixes in Modern English
form one part of speech from another (bebutton, interfamily, postcollege etc).
Prefixes can be classified according to different principles:
1. Semantic classification:
a) prefixes of negative meaning, such as : in- (invaluable), non- (nonformals), un- (unfree)
etc,
b) prefixes denoting repetition or reversal actions, such as: de- (decolonize), re-
(revegetation), dis- (disconnect),
c) prefixes denoting time, space, degree relations, such as : inter- (interplanetary) ,
hyper- (hypertension), ex- (ex-student), pre- (pre-election), over- (overdrugging) etc.
2. Origin of prefixes:
a) native (Germanic), such as: un-, over-, under- etc.
b) Romanic, such as : in-, de-, ex-, re- etc.
c) Greek, such as : sym-, hyper- etc.
3. The nature of words in which they are used:
 a)prefixes used in notional words and prefixes used in functional words. Prefixes used in
notional words are proper prefixes which are bound morphemes, e.g. un- (unhappy).
b) Prefixes used in functional words are semi-bound morphemes because they are met in
the language as words, e.g. over- (overhead) (over the table ).
When we analyze such words as : adverb, accompany where we can find the root of the
word (verb, company) we may treat ad-, ac- as prefixes though they were never used as prefixes
to form new words in English and were borrowed from Romanic languages together with words.
In such cases we can treat them as derived words. But some scientists treat them as simple
words. Another group of words with a disputable structure are such as : contain, retain, detain
and conceive, receive, deceive where we can see that re-, de-, con- act as prefixes and -tain, -
ceive can be understood as roots. But in English these combinations of sounds have no lexical
meaning and are called pseudo-morphemes. Some scientists treat such words as simple words,
others as derived ones.
There are some prefixes which can be treated as root morphemes by some scientists, e.g.
after- in the word afternoon. American lexicographers working on Webster dictionaries treat
such words as compound words. British lexicographers treat such words as derived ones.
2.2. COMPOSITION
Composition is the way of word-building when a word is formed by joining two or more
stems to form one word. The structural unity of a compound word depends upon: a) the unity of
stress, b) solid or hyphonated spelling, c) semantic unity, d) unity of morphological and
syntactical functioning. These are charachteristic features of compound words in all languages.
For English compounds some of these factors are not very reliable. As a rule English compounds
have one uniting stress (usually on the first component), e.g. hard-cover, best-seller. We can also
have a double stress in an English compound, with the main stress on the first component and
with a secondary stress on the second component, e.g. blood-vessel. The third pattern of
stresses is two level stresses, e.g. snow-white, sky-blue. The third pattern is easily mixed up with
word-groups unless they have solid or hyphonated spelling.
Spelling in English compounds is not very reliable as well because they can have different
spelling even in the same text, e.g. war-ship, blood-vessel can be spelt through a hyphen and
also with a break, insofar, underfoot can be spelt solidly and with a break. All the more so that
there has appeared in Modern English a special type of compound words which are called block
compounds, they have one uniting stress but are spelt with a break, e.g. air piracy, cargo
module, etc.
The semantic unity of a compound word is often very strong. In such cases we have
idiomatic compounds where the meaning of the whole is not a sum of meanings of its
components, e.g. to ghostwrite, skinhead, brain-drain etc. In nonidiomatic compounds semantic
unity is not strong, e. g., airbus, to bloodtransfuse, astrodynamics etc.
English compounds have the unity of morphological and syntactical functioning. They are
used in a sentence as one part of it and only one component changes grammatically, e.g. These
girls are chatter-boxes. «Chatter-boxes» is a predicative in the sentence and only the second
component changes grammatically.
Ways of forming compound words.
Compound words in English can be formed not only by means of composition but also by
means of :
a) reduplication, e.g. too-too, and also by means of reduplicatin combined with sound
interchange , e.g. rope-ripe,
b) conversion from word-groups, e.g. to micky-mouse, can-do, makeup etc,
c) back formation from compound nouns or word-groups, e.g. to bloodtransfuse, to
fingerprint etc ,
d) analogy, e.g. lie-in ( on the analogy with sit-in) and also phone-in, brawn-drain (on the
analogy with brain-drain) etc.
Classifications of English compounds
1. According to the parts of speech compounds are subdivided into:
 a) nouns, such as : baby-moon, globe-trotter,
b) adjectives, such as : free-for-all, power-happy,
c) verbs, such as : to honey-moon, to baby-sit, to henpeck,
d) adverbs, such as: downdeep, headfirst,
e) prepositions, such as: into, within,
f) numerals, such as : fifty-five.
2. According to the way components are joined together compounds are divided into:
a) neutral, which are formed by joining together two stems without any joining
morpheme, e.g. ball-point, to windowshop,
b) morphological where components are joined by a linking element : vowels «o» or «i»
or the consonant «s», e.g. («astrospace», «handicraft», «sportsman»),
c) syntactical where the components are joined by means of form-word stems, e.g. here-
and-now, free-for-all., do-or-die.
3. According to their structure compounds are subdivided into:
a) compound words proper which consist of two stems, e.g. to job-hunt, train-sick, go-go,
tip-top ,
b) derivational compounds, where besides the stems we have affixes, e.g. ear-minded,
hydro-skimmer,
c) compound words consisting of three or more stems, e.g. cornflower-blue, eggshell-
thin, singer-songwriter,
d) compound-shortened words, e.g. boatel, tourmobile, VJ-day, motocross, intervision,
Eurodollar, Camford.
4. According to the relations between the components compound words are subdivided
into :
a) subordinative compounds where one of the components is the semantic and the
structural centre and the second component is subordinate; these subordinative relations can
be different:
with comparative relations, e.g. honey-sweet, eggshell-thin, with limiting relations, e.g.
breast-high, knee-deep, with emphatic relations, e.g. dog-cheap, with objective relations, e.g.
gold-rich, with cause relations, e.g. love-sick, with space relations, e.g. top-heavy, with time
relations, e.g. spring-fresh, with subjective relations, e.g. foot-sore etc
b) coordinative compounds where both components are semantically independent. Here
belong such compounds when one person (object) has two functions, e.g. secretary-
stenographer, woman-doctor, Oxbridge etc. Such compounds are called additive. This group
includes also compounds formed by means of reduplication, e.g. fifty-fifty, no-no, and also
compounds formed with the help of rhythmic stems (reduplication combined with sound
interchange) e.g. criss-cross, walkie-talkie.
5. According to the order of the components compounds are divided into compounds
with direct order, e.g. kill-joy, and compounds with indirect order, e.g. nuclear-free, rope-ripe .
2.3. CONVERSION
Conversion is a characteristic feature of the English word-building system. It is also called
affixless derivation or zero-suffixation. The term «conversion» first appeared in the book by
Henry Sweet «New English Grammar» in 1891. Conversion is treated differently by different
scientists, e.g. prof. A.I. Smirntitsky treats conversion as a morphological way of forming words
when one part of speech is formed from another part of speech by changing its paradigm, e.g. to
form the verb «to dial» from the noun «dial» we change the paradigm of the noun (a dial,dials)
for the paradigm of a regular verb (I dial, he dials, dialed, dialing). A. Marchand in his book «The
Categories and Types of Present-day English» treats conversion as a morphological-syntactical
word-building because we have not only the change of the paradigm, but also the change of the
syntactic function, e.g. I need some good paper for my room. (The noun «paper» is an object in
the sentence). I paper my room every year. (The verb «paper» is the predicate in the sentence).
Conversion is the main way of forming verbs in Modern English. Verbs can be formed
from nouns of different semantic groups and have different meanings because of that, e.g.
 a) verbs have instrumental meaning if they are formed from nouns denoting parts of a
human body e.g. to eye, to finger, to elbow, to shoulder etc. They have instrumental meaning if
they are formed from nouns denoting tools, machines, instruments, weapons, e.g. to hammer,
to machine-gun, to rifle, to nail.
b) verbs can denote an action characteristic of the living being denoted by the noun from
which they have been converted, e.g. to crowd, to wolf, to ape.
c) verbs can denote acquisition, addition or deprivation if they are formed from nouns
denoting an object, e.g. to fish, to dust, to peel, to paper.
d) verbs can denote an action performed at the place denoted by the noun from which
they have been converted, e.g. to park, to garage, to bottle, to corner, to pocket.
e) verbs can denote an action performed at the time denoted by the noun from which
they have been converted e.g. to winter, to week-end.
Verbs can be also converted from adjectives, in such cases they denote the change of the
state, e.g. to tame (to become or make tame) , to clean, to slim etc.
Nouns can also be formed by means of conversion from verbs. Converted nouns can
denote:
a) instant of an action e.g. a jump, a move.
b) process or state e.g. sleep, walk.
c) agent of the action expressed by the verb from which the noun has been converted,
e.g. a help, a flirt, a scold ,
d) object or result of the action expressed by the verb from which the noun has been
converted, e.g. a burn, a find, a purchase.
e) place of the action expressed by the verb from which the noun has been converted,
e.g. a drive, a stop, a walk.
Many nouns converted from verbs can be used only in the Singular form and denote
momentaneous actions. In such cases we have partial conversion. Such deverbal nouns are often
used with such verbs as : to have, to get, to take etc., e.g. to have a try, to give a push, to take a
swim.
Substantivizatin of adjectives
Some scientists (Yespersen, Kruisinga ) refer substantivization of adjectives to
conversion. But most scientists disagree with them because in cases of substantivization of
adjectives we have quite different changes in the language. Substantivization is the result of
ellipsis (syntactical shortening ) when a word combination with a semantically strong attribute
loses its semantically weak noun (man, person etc), e.g. «a grown-up person» is shortened to «a
grown-up». In cases of perfect substantivization the attribute takes the paradigm of a countable
noun , e.g. a criminal, criminals, a criminal’s (mistake) , criminals’ (mistakes). Such words are
used in a sentence in the same function as nouns, e.g. I am fond of musicals. (musical comedies).
There are also two types of partly substantivized adjectives:
a)those which have only the plural form and have the meaning of collective nouns, such
as: sweets, news, empties, finals, greens,
b) those which have only the singular form and are used with the definite article. They
also have the meaning of collective nouns and denote a class, a nationality, a group of people,
e.g. the rich, the English, the dead .
“Stone Wall” combinations.
The problem whether adjectives can be formed by means of conversion from nouns is
the subject of many discussions. In Modern English there are a lot of word combinations of the
type , e.g. price rise, wage freeze, steel helmet, sand castle etc.
If the first component of such units is an adjective converted from a noun, combinations
of this type are free word-groups typical of English (adjective + noun). This point of view is
proved by O. Yespersen by the following facts:
1. «Stone» denotes some quality of the noun «wall».
2. «Stone» stands before the word it modifies, as adjectives in the function of an
attribute do in English.
 3. «Stone» is used in the Singular though its meaning in most cases is plural,and
adjectives in English have no plural form.
4. There are some cases when the first component is used in the Comparative or the
Superlative degree, e.g. the bottomest end of the scale.
5. The first component can have an adverb which characterizes it, and adjectives are
characterized by adverbs, e.g. a purely family gathering.
6. The first component can be used in the same syntactical function with a proper
adjective to characterize the same noun, e.g. lonely bare stone houses.
7. After the first component the pronoun «one» can be used instead of a noun, e.g. I shall
not put on a silk dress, I shall put on a cotton one.
However Henry Sweet and some other scientists say that these criteria are not
characteristic of the majority of such units.
They consider the first component of such units to be a noun in the function of an
attribute because in Modern English almost all parts of speech and even word-groups and
sentences can be used in the function of an attribute, e.g. the then president (an adverb), out-of-
the-way vilages (a word-group), a devil-may-care speed (a sentence).
There are different semantic relations between the components of «stone wall»
combinations. E.I. Chapnik classified them into the following groups:
1. time relations, e.g. evening paper,
2. space relations, e.g. top floor,
3. relations between the object and the material of which it is made, e.g. steel helmet,
4. cause relations, e.g. war orphan,
5. relations between a part and the whole, e.g. a crew member,
6. relations between the object and an action, e.g. arms production,
7. relations between the agent and an action e.g. government threat, price rise,
8. relations between the object and its designation, e.g. reception hall,
9. the first component denotes the head, organizer of the characterized object, e.g.
Clinton government, Forsyte family,
10. the first component denotes the field of activity of the second component, e.g.
language teacher, psychiatry doctor,
11. comparative relations, e.g. moon face,
12. qualitative relations, e.g. winter apples.
2.4. ABBREVIATION (shortenings)
In the process of communication words and word-groups can be shortened.
An abbreviation (from Latin brevis, meaning short) is a shortened form of a word or phrase. It
consists of a group of letters taken from the word or phrase. For example, the
word abbreviation can itself be represented by the abbreviation abbr., abbrv. or abbrev.
In strict analysis, abbreviations should not be confused
with contractions, crasis, acronyms, or initialisms, with which they share some semantic and
phonetic functions, though all four are connoted by the term "abbreviation" in loose parlance.
An abbreviation is a shortening by any method; a contraction is a reduction of size by the
drawing together of the parts. A contraction of a word is made by omitting certain letters
or syllables and bringing together the first and last letters or elements; an abbreviation may be
made by omitting certain portions from the interior or by cutting off a part. A contraction is an
abbreviation, but an abbreviation is not necessarily a contraction. Acronyms and initialisms are
regarded as subsets of abbreviations (e.g. by the Council of Science Editors). They are
abbreviations that consist of the initial letters or parts of words.
The causes of shortening can be linguistic and extra-linguistic. By extra-linguistic causes
changes in the life of people are meant. In Modern English many new abbreviations, acronyms ,
initials, blends are formed because the tempo of life is increasing and it becomes necessary to
give more and more information in the shortest possible time.
There are also linguistic causes of abbreviating words and word-groups, such as the
demand of rhythm, which is satisfied in English by monosyllabic words. When borrowings from
other languages are assimilated in English they are shortened. Here we have modification of
form on the basis of analogy, e.g. the Latin borrowing «fanaticus» is shortened to «fan» on the
analogy with native words: man, pan, tan etc.
There are two main types of shortenings : graphical and lexical.
Graphical abbreviations. Graphical abbreviations are the result of shortening of words
and word-groups only in written speech while orally the corresponding full forms are used. They
are used for the economy of space and effort in writing.
The oldest group of graphical abbreviations in English is of Latin origin. In Russian this
type of abbreviation is not typical. In these abbreviations in the spelling Latin words are
shortened, while orally the corresponding English equivalents are pronounced in the full
form,e.g. for example (Latin exampli gratia), a.m. - in the morning (ante meridiem), No - number
(numero), p.a. - a year (per annum), d - penny (dinarius), lb - pound (libra), i. e. - that is (id est)
etc.
Some graphical abbreviations of Latin origin have different English equivalents in
different contexts, e.g. p.m. can be pronounced «in the afternoon» (post meridiem) and «after
death» (post mortem).
There are also graphical abbreviations of native origin, where in the spelling we have
abbreviations of words and word-groups of the corresponding English equivalents in the full
form. We have several semantic groups of them :
a) days of the week, e.g. Mon - Monday, Tue - Tuesday etc
b) names of months, e.g. Apr - April, Aug - August etc.
c) names of counties in UK, e.g. Yorks - Yorkshire, Berks -Berkshire etc
d) names of states in USA, e.g. Ala - Alabama, Alas - Alaska etc.
e) names of address, e.g. Mr., Mrs., Ms., Dr. etc.
f) military ranks, e.g. capt. -captain, col. - colonel, sgt - sergeant etc.
g) scientific degrees, e.g. B.A. - Bachelor of Arts, D.M. - Doctor of Medicine . ( Sometimes
in scientific degrees we have abbreviations of Latin origin, e.g., M.B. - Medicinae Baccalaurus).
h) units of time, length, weight, e.g. f. / ft -foot/feet, sec. - second, in. -inch, mg. -
milligram etc.
The reading of some graphical abbreviations depends on the context, e.g. «m» can be
read as: male, married, masculine, metre, mile, million, minute, «l.p.» can be read as long-
playing, low pressure.
Initial abbreviations. A term formed from the initial letter or letters of several words or
parts of words, but which is itself pronounced letter by letter.
BBC is an initialism for British Broadcasting Corporation
Initialisms are the bordering case between graphical and lexical abbreviations. When
they appear in the language, as a rule, to denote some new offices they are closer to graphical
abbreviations because orally full forms are used, e.g. J.V. - joint venture. When they are used for
some duration of time they acquire the shortened form of pronouncing and become closer to
lexical abbreviations, e.g. BBC is as a rule pronounced in the shortened form.
In some cases the translation of initialisms is next to impossible without using special
dictionaries. Initialisms are denoted in different ways. Very often they are expressed in the way
they are pronounced in the language of their origin, e.g. ANZUS (Australia, New Zealand, United
States) is given in Russian as АНЗУС, SALT (Strategic Arms Limitation Talks) was for a long time
used in Russian as СОЛТ, now a translation variant is used (ОСВ -Договор об ограничении
стратегических вооружений). This type of initialisms borrowed into other languages is
preferable, e.g. UFO - НЛО, CП - JV etc.
There are three types of initialisms in English:
a) initialisms with alphabetical reading, such as UK, BUP, CND etc
b) initialisms which are read as if they are words, e.g. UNESCO, UNO, NATO etc.
c) initialisms which coincide with English words in their sound form, such initialisms are
called acronyms, e.g. CLASS (Computor-based Laboratory for Automated School System).
Some scientists unite groups b) and c) into one group which they call acronyms.
 Some initialisms can form new words in which they act as root morphemes by different
ways of wordbuilding:
a) affixation, e.g. AWALism, ex-rafer, ex- POW, to waafize, AIDSophobia etc.
b) conversion, e.g. to raff, to fly IFR (Instrument Flight Rules),
c) composition, e.g. STOLport, USAFman etc.
d) there are also compound-shortened words where the first component is an initial
abbreviation with the alphabetical reading and the second one is a complete word, e.g. A-bomb,
U-pronunciation, V-day etc. In some cases the first component is a complete word and the
second component is an initial abbreviation with the alphabetical pronunciation, e.g. Three -Ds
(Three dimensions) - стереофильм.
Abbreviations of words. Abbreviation of words consists in clipping a part of a word. As a
result we get a new lexical unit where either the lexical meaning or the style is different form
the full form of the word. In such cases as «fantasy» and «fancy», «fence» and «defence» we
have different lexical meanings. In such cases as «laboratory» and «lab», we have different
styles.
Abbreviation does not change the part-of-speech meaning, as we have it in the case of
conversion or affixation, it produces words belonging to the same part of speech as the primary
word, e.g. prof is a noun and professor is also a noun. Mostly nouns undergo abbreviation, but
we can also meet abbreviation of verbs, such as to rev from to revolve, to tab from to tabulate
etc. But mostly abbreviated forms of verbs are formed by means of conversion from abbreviated
nouns, e.g. to taxi, to vac etc. Adjectives can be abbreviated but they are mostly used in school
slang and are combined with suffixation, e.g. comfy, dilly, mizzy etc. As a rule pronouns,
numerals, interjections. conjunctions are not abbreviated. The exceptions are: fif (fifteen), teen-
ager, in one’s teens (apheresis from numerals from 13 to 19).
Lexical abbreviations are classified according to the part of the word which is clipped.
Mostly the end of the word is clipped, because the beginning of the word in most cases is the
root and expresses the lexical meaning of the word. This type of abbreviation is called apocope.
Here we can mention a group of words ending in «o», such as disco (dicotheque), expo
(exposition), intro (introduction) and many others. On the analogy with these words there
developed in Modern English a number of words where «o» is added as a kind of a suffix to the
shortened form of the word, e.g. combo (combination) - небольшой эстрадный ансамбль,
Afro (African) -прическа под африканца etc. In other cases the beginning of the word is
clipped. In such cases we have aphaeresis , e.g. chute (parachute), varsity (university), copter
(helicopter) , thuse (enthuse) etc. Sometimes the middle of the word is clipped, e.g. mart
(market), fanzine (fan magazine) maths (mathematics). Such abbreviations are called syncope.
Sometimes we have a combination of apocope with apheresis,when the beginning and the end
of the word are clipped, e.g. tec (detective), van (avanguard) etc.
Sometimes shortening influences the spelling of the word, e.g. «c» can be substituted by
«k» before «e» to preserve pronunciation, e.g. mike (microphone), Coke (coca-cola) etc. The
same rule is observed in the following cases: fax( facsimile), teck (technical college), trank
(tranquilizer) etc. The final consonants in the shortened forms are substituded by letters
characteristic of native English words.